Invisible Cities Sociology

The birth of a child is a truly magical occurrence. Once a baby’s gender is determined, either through ultrasound, or from the brief examination of a doctor, this small branch of a family’s inheritance, has already been designated with countless burdensome requirements to follow within their limited world. In regards to historical stereotypes, timid, little girls wear pink skirts and hair bows. These girls grow up to become housewives, who cook, clean and babysit the children. Meanwhile, boisterous young boys have the whole world to conquer and rule. The multiple responsibilities of a man are deemed as very important since he is the person who earns the family income. In contrast, Teddy, the main character of “The Fall of a City” by Canadian author Alden Nowlan, is a very inventive and quiet child, who uses his imagination to build himself a utopian escape in his dark, gloomy attic. He uses scrap paper to create the citizens of Upalia and cardboard to fabricate the radiant city of Theodoresburg. Eventually, Teddy’s aunt worries about what Teddy is constantly doing, hidden away from his family. His uncle heads to the attic only to discover the shocking revelation that Teddy has been playing with paper dolls and a doll house. Teddy’s uncle laughs and teases Teddy mercilessly, culminating in Teddy to go against his accomplishments and lose an important part of his individuality. Furthermore, the conflict between Teddy and his uncle is a manifestation of how many adults, such as

The city, Toronto in this case, presents a web of streets and geographical space that threatens to lock its citizens in a certain demarcated way of life and conduct. The four key characters in this narrative - Tuyen, Carla, Jackie, and Oku - each feel blocked in by the constrained locality that they have been born into and each attempts to escape it in his own way.: Tuyen by being an artist, Carla by being a courier; Oku by being a student and Jackie by working in a store. The first two not only attempt to escape by means of their profession using their profession to either flee the spaces and squares (by bike) or transcend it via imagination (by art) but they also adopt profession that go against societal expectations. These societal expectations were created by, and exist within the geographical space they live in. Toronto of the late 20th century had an internalized set of expectations for immigrants and its citizens. The parents of the characters succumbed to it. The protagonists, however, resolved to step out of their boundaries and most of them succeeded.

Anderson argues that common rhythms of societal response can be identified in similar public spaces. It is clear that the way individuals behave in noisy environments where they are constantly avoiding interaction with objects and bodies differs from convivial mingling. Alternatively, Anderson claims that places that exhibit similar patterns of vitality, usage, and organization have similar social traits (Anderson 67). To illustrate this, relatively busy and safe spaces open any frenzy is given slight regulation regardless of whether these spaces are libraries, museums, retail centers, squares, or parks. It appears that these places are marked by the ethos of researched trust in the situation. Mechanisms are used to negotiate bodies and space in these environments. These mechanisms appear to render the familiar strange and the strange familiar. Transactions are carried out in a safe and efficient manner: threat resulting from anticipation of violence, anxiety, and fear is always avoided. The participants have appreciated the benefits consciously and tactful in public places. Social experiences in public places domesticate diversity and complexities in urban places (Burfeind 18).

Hitchcock’s notoriously elaborate Rear Window set (under the art direction of J. Macmillan Johnson and Hal Pereira) is so significant because it contains the entirety of the movie. The rest of the city is a mere suggestion, hinted at by cars and pedestrians passing by a narrow strip of alleyway. Therefore, the real analysis of city life that Rear Window explores is that of the relationship between neighbors. In his essay The Metropolis and Mental Life, Georg Simmel comments that the city dweller must avoid overstimulation by practicing “reserve” among others and that,

After reading all fourth articles, I believe I have a stronger understanding of sociology. However, it is complex and I still have a lot to learn to fully grasp the significance of sociology. One thing I’ve never thought to analyze is social location which is seen in all four articles. Social location is an important concept in sociology because it gives you a better understanding of what category people belong to in society. What makes up a social location is obviously the location, race, religion, gender, and culture.

A critical analysis of the movie The Blind Side provides examples of the sport topics Race and Ethnicity, community in sport, and sport in parent-child interactions, and the human communication concept of interpersonal. Race and ethnicity in the world of sport varies, an ethnic group or ethnicity is a population group whose members identify with each other on the basis of common nationality or shared cultural traditions. The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics which usually results from genetic ancestry. An example of race is brown, white, or black skin all from various parts of the world, while an example of ethnicity is German or Spanish ancestry

Teju Cole’s Open City tells the story of a half-German, half-Nigerian immigrant named Julius, living in New York City in a post-9/11 world. Throughout the book, Julius vacillates between self-awareness and naiveté, someone who thoughtfully observes and seeks connection with others, but only on his own terms. This is more apparent than ever in Chapter Fifteen, where Julius struggles to process the fact that his friend and mentor, Dr. Saito, is dying. In this chapter, he has a short conversation with a fading Dr. Saito, and then, not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts, visits his friend to reflect on that conversation. The talk he has with his friend reflects Julius’ self-absorption and self-imposed isolation, even as he attempts to reach out to other human beings.

In Ann Petry’s 1946 novel The Street, the author establishes Lutie Johnson’s distant, discouraging, distracted, and finally dominant demeanor to the urban setting mostly through the use of personification.

An article by Wilcox and Wolfinger, Then comes marriage? Religion, race, and marriage in urban America examine the role that religious participation and the norms and behaviors it promotes plays in encouraging marriage among new parents in Urban America. This is the first study to offer a quantitative analysis of the association between religion and marriage among urban mothers.

Cities are generators of economic life and source of changes in the world. Thereby, Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities puts into relief the role of cities on the social and economic levels, while denouncing the disastrous consequences of urban renewal programs. To that extent, in chapters 2 and 3, she discusses "The Uses of Sidewalks”, arguing that over all people need safety and trust in their city. Therefore, first she claims the necessity of keeping streets and sidewalks safe because they are the “vital organs” of cities (29). Secondly, she argues that the functioning of cities should be organized in order to foster human interaction in which “casual public

Throughout the world of suburbia, there seems to be a persistence of communities who attempt to create a perfect, enclosed world for the whole of the community to live in. By providing for everything that the inhabitants would ever want, suburbia is able to close itself off from those around it that it deems unworthy of belonging. While this exclusivity helps to foster the sense of community, it can also bring with it isolation from the outside, and also from within, and have disastrous results. Throughout the semester, there have been a number of works that have dealt the issue of isolation, but the greatest representation of a work whose physical qualities in its representation of suburbia help to

The environment in which people live in demonstrates the societal norms and values of said culture. In Émile Zola’s The Belly of Paris, Florent, a political outcast, returns to Paris only to find that the regime has drastically changed. Napoleon III, a self-elected emperor, has torn down many of the streets of Old Paris to make room for the angular and orderly streets of New Paris as well as the new markets of Les Halles. Throughout the novel, the character’s lives revolve around the various markets in Les Halles and the streets of Paris. Zola uses descriptions of architecture and city planning as well as how people use space within Paris to demonstrate the city’s corruption, signifying that the architecture of a city is a reflection of

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino creates an assortment of paintings through descriptive words and images. While various cities are written similarly, they certainly not the same and each contain their own qualities. The pair of cities that follow that theme is , Zobeide city of desire and Armilla city of Thin. Both cities depict naked women, but each is as different as night and day.

In the Iranian film, Children of Heaven, the city has an affect how people communicate, how they develop. Correspondingly, an urban atmosphere affects what people’s attitudes and cultures are depending on their social status is. There are many somatic setting differences between the unfortunate and the fortunate, for example what Ali’s family wears and where the family lives compared to the gated communities as shown in the film. Moreover, the consequences of the urban environment in a city. Ali and Zhara are definitely exposed to an urban environment that could potentially shape how they act, or who they become as they get older.

This illusory book entitled “invisible cities” was published in Italy in 1972, written by a very famous Italian prose writer of the postwar era, Italo Calvino. This book highlights a historical memoir of a well-known Venetian explorer named Marco Polo but focuses around a specific dialogue and a series of stories shared between Kublai Khan, emperor of Mongolia, and his right-hand man Polo in the late 1200’s. This concept of writing emphasizes the aspects of humanity and social consequences in generic city makeup and the way we become trapped in the metaphorical “inferno of living”.